Really coming together.

All that's needed are the outside lights, wrought iron railing, and front yard sod.

So I got a call from mom, who just returned from shopping at Belk’s and was standing in front of her new home- mom bought herself a new dress for this Sunday’s performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’, and was so excited to tell me that the gutters had gone up on the house and that the landscaping in the front was done.  She sounded like an excited girl who just opened up a present.

As she was hanging up with me, she spotted her old neighbors.  They had decided to see where my mom was building and check out the house.  Unfortunately, they weren’t able to look inside, because the hardwood floors were done today.  In fact, no one can walk inside until Sunday.  Regardless, my was so excited to see her old neighbors and friends.  She so badly wants them to build next door.  Mom is always talking about how much she misses them knocking on the back door and stopping for a cup of coffee.

Any way, it looks like mom will be home for Christmas.  I’m so grateful to our builder.  He is an exceptional man, who worked exceptionally hard for me to ensure that my mom would be in her home for Christmas, and in the process, did a superlative job.  We are very fortunate and blessed to have found such a wonderful person.

________________

The Hollywood Gossip:

When asked why Adam Lambert has been booted off multiple ABC programs this month, Kara DioGuardi channeled Bill Clinton. She basically said:

It’s the economy, stupid.

“We’re living in a pretty bad economic time, so they have to do what they have to do to keep their advertisers,” DioGuardi told E! News. “Networks are doing what they think their viewers want and don’t want, so it’s just budgetary.”

Lambert, of course, found himself in hot water after he performed an excessively racy rendition of “For Your Entertainment” at the American Music Awards. Since then, ABC has canceled two of his previously-booked appearances on its network.

Many fans are citing an unfair double standard against the singer.

If they boycott the network, ABC might really need to worry about its advertisers!

The American Idol judge, who returns for her second season on the panel next month, also defended the crooner.

“We always know he’s going to shock us, right? He’s going to wow us and give us the unexpected, and that’s his thing…That’s what we look for.”

In other words, ABC: you can’t book Adam Lambert for a gig and then act surprised when he flaunts his sexuality.

DioGuardi knows a thing or two about that, as well: she stripped down to her bikini during the show’s May finale; and said husband Mike McCuddy sees even more than that at home:

“I give him his own personal videos – sans the bikini.”

__________

Despite claims by President Obama and Democrats that unemployment would stay under 8% if the Stimulus Bill was passed, unemployment numbers released this morning showed that 10% of Americans are without jobs.

Sure, we’ll hear the spin that this is Bush’s fault– remember, Democrats controlled Congress the last two years of his presidency, and that the economy was worst than Obama thought– remember, these are the same people who claimed this was the worst recession since the great depression.

Bottom line is that the $800 billion stimulus bill was nothing more than a payback to the special interest and groups that helped propel Obama and the liberals to power and actually slowed any recovery in the economy.  Had Obama and the Democrats actually gave $400 billion in tax cuts to working families and small businesses rather than wasting $800 billion, we would have been out of this recession a lot sooner.

From the AP:

The Labor Department says the economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, an improvement from October’s revised total of 111,000. That’s also much better than the 130,000 Wall Street economists expected.

But the respite may be temporary, as many economists expect the jobless rate to keep climbing into next year as the economy struggles to generate enough jobs for the 15.4 million people out of work.

If part-time workers who want full time jobs and laid off workers who have given up looking for work are included, the so-called underemployment rate also fell, to 17.2 percent from 17.5 percent in October.

__________